Luna Rota
by Doctor Snake Eater
Summary: In a world with a broken moon, four lost Espada are revived, confused and unsettled. With the holes in their souls filled, and their bodies weaker than they'd ever imagined they'd be, they set off to delve into this strange world of Remnant... ...and possibly cause an indescribable amount of chaos in the process.


_Look, I swear I'm not doing this on purpose._

_Yeah, another bloody crossover fic, this time featuring Bleach x RWBY. I think I might have a problem._

_In any case, same deal with Silberner Streitwagen, I might update this again soon, might not. You all know the deal by now if you've followed me for a while, and if you're new here, hey, stay a while, read a story, contemplate your life choices wonder how you got here._

_Well, on with the story I guess! I'll do my best to make the chapter names true to Bleach's aesthetic for names!_

* * *

_BLEACH x RWBY_

_LUNA ROTA_

* * *

_Arc One: Deadbeats Rising_

_Chapter One: Destination Not Home_

* * *

Grimmjow's awakening was very sudden.

One moment, everything was dark, and heavy. No sensations, no light, nothing. Just void.

Then suddenly, there was a surge of pain through his entire being, pain so intense he awoke gasping, momentarily forgetting how to breathe as he hyperventilated, chest heaving as he sat up abruptly.

His eyes were wide and unfocused, electric blue pupils dilated to pinpricks.

The pain died down rather quickly, leaving him sitting there, breathing heavily, and delirious. Looking around slowly, he found he was in some sort of forest. The grass was green, leaves were turning a little brown, and it was currently night.

"What the fuck just happened? Where the fuck am I?"

His words were met with silence, leaving him to stew in his thoughts. Gritting his teeth, he shut his eyes and rested a palm against his forehead.

"The fuck happened to me? Last thing I remembered… was…."

_"Sorry Grimmjow. Looks like I can't afford to get any more injured."_

_"I'll fight you as many times as you want!"_

_"Just die, weakling."_

_"What the fuck are you doing!? Isn't he your ally!?"_

He was fighting Kurosaki and… he lost…

…and then Nnoitra stepped in and…

"That son of a bitch!" The Sexta Espada growled, his eyes snapping open as he snapped up onto his feet, stumbling briefly as he felt a brief wave of dizziness. "That bastard hit me from behind!"

Briefly checking his body, he found himself fully healed, and fully clothed. Pantera was sheathed at his hip, and his Hollow hole was….

…missing.

"What the fuck?" He murmured, eyes wide as he slowly reached for his abdomen and tried to pat himself on the stomach.

No hole. Just toned abs. It wasn't an illusion.

"No… no no no, what the fuck is this!?" Grimmjow yelled, starting to panic as he raised a hand up to the right side of his face.

He calmed down just a little when he felt the smooth bone surface of his mask's remains, the right side of his old form's jaws firmly attached to him. At least that was still there.

"What the fuck happened to me!?"

"It figures you are the one making all the noise."

Hearing the deep, but feminine voice, Grimmjow spun in place, left arm snapping up as a bright red Cero quickly formed in his palm, primed to fire.

He didn't even get a chance to release it as the speaker's hand slapped his aside, shattering the technique into pieces, and stinging his own palm.

His eyes met a pair of bright green ones, set in a dark skinned face with a head of blonde hair, the lower half of her face covered by the tall collar of her abdomen and under-cleavage bearing outfit.

The Tres Espada, Tier Harribel.

"Harribel?" Grimmjow growled, his eyes narrowing as he shook his sore hand. Even a light slap from the admittedly stronger Espada made his palm sting like a bitch.

"Your memories are intact at least." She commented a little dryly, before crossing her arms under her chest. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit." Grimmjow grunted. "Where the hell are we?"

"I am not sure. Wherever we are however, it isn't Hueco Mundo, nor is it the realm of the living. At the very least, not the one we know."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?""

"Look up."

Blinking, Grimmjow obeyed and slowly turned his head up to look at the sky.

At first nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. A regular night sky, with many stars that glittered in the distance.

Then he glanced a little further to the left, and saw the moon, shattered into pieces.

"….what the fuck am I looking at?"

"The moon, obviously." Harribel raised a delicate brow. "Are your eyes damaged?"

"Don't sass me woman, that's not what I meant! How the fuck is the moon broken like that!?" Grimmjow growled out, lowering his gaze back to his fellow Arrancar. He was starting to get incredibly antsy. Nothing about this situation sat well with him.

"I am not sure. I am clueless as well." She shrugged her shoulders a little. "I attempted to open a Garganta as well, but… nothing happened. Almost as if wherever we are is completely cut off from Garganta access. For now though, just follow me. The others are up ahead."

Harribel shook her head, before slowly turning around and walking off through the woods, heading towards a clearing.

"The others? The other Espada are here too?" Grimmjow blinked, before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking after her, hunching a little.

"Not quite."

That was her only reply, and the two lapsed into silence as they walked. Grimmjow scowled as he stewed in his thoughts. There could be worse people to end up stuck walking with.

Harribel wasn't an easy person to talk to. Her personality conflicted greatly with his. She was calm, he was abrasive. Oil and water and all that. He respected her strength well enough, you don't end up the third strongest Espada without the power to back up that rank. The fact that she was a good three ranks above him was enough to keep him from lashing out more aggressively.

….still didn't mean he liked her though. She was too soft on her Fraccion.

"…..I'm guessing your Hollow hole is gone too?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes."

"…..where _was_ your Hollow hole anyway?"

His question was met with silence.

* * *

As the two breached the line of trees and entered a moonlit clearing, Grimmjow felt his face twist into one of pure rage.

"Ah? So the other piece of shit that landed here was you?"

Up ahead, currently seated hunched over on a fallen log, was a familiar lanky and tall figure with an odd spoon-shaped back collar and long black hair, piano teeth forming a toothy smirk. Stabbed into the ground behind him was his oversized Zanpakutou, the chain hanging limply from the pommel with the other hand looped around one of his arms.

Quinto Espada; Nnoitra Gilga.

"Nnoitra…" Grimmjow growled out, eyes wide with fury. Harribel glanced at the furious Sexta, brow furrowing as she prepared to speak up, before the cyan haired warrior lunged.

Nnoitra's smirk widened as he stood up. "What's the matter bitch, mad I crippled ya!?"

"Fucker!"

Grimmjow rocketed right towards the higher ranked Espada and threw his fist right towards Nnoitra's face. The taller of the two kept his smirk up, believing his Hierro would protect him…

…only for his one eye to widen comically as Grimmjow's fist slammed into his nose, the cartilage crunching under the pressure, before Nnoitra's body flipped backwards through the air and slammed into a tree, blood spurting out from his nostrils. Being thrown back by the punch caused his arm to yank back his weapon as well, sending it clattering onto the ground.

Grimmjow's eyes widened a little at the amount of damage he managed to cause. Nnoitra's Hierro was on another level compared to his own. He was expecting 'some' form of damage, but outright breaking the bastard's nose wasn't within the realms of his expectations.

"F-FUCK!" The lanky Espada growled out as he pulled himself off of the tree, holding his busted nose with one hand, glaring daggers right at Grimmjow. "W-what the fuck!? My Hierro should have protected me from that! The fuck happened!?"

"I don't care, it just means it'll be easier for me to fuck you up after what you did!" Grimmjow snarled, a savage grin forming on his face as he grabbed the hilt of Pantera and unsheathed it, rushing right towards Nnoitra. "Let's see if I can stab a few fucking holes in you as well!"

"You little shitstain!" Nnoitra sneered, yanking his left arm back to pull on Santa Teresa's chain, the scythe flying off the ground and into his right hand as he lunged for Grimmjow, swinging his weapon upwards as he prepared to slam it down.

The two Espada managed to get barely a foot within range of each other, before a blur appeared between them, grabbing their right arms in a vice grip. Grimmjow's eyes widened at the sight of the one who stopped them, immediately recognizing the dispassionate voice, the half-helmet resting on raven hair, and the cold teal eyes.

Quatro Espada. Ulquiorra Cifer.

The 4th strongest Espada stared at Grimmjow blankly, looking just like he did before Grimmjow fought Kurosaki. His jacket was zipped up all the way, though Grimmjow had no doubt that the Hollow hole was probably going to be missing there too.

"Ulquiorra… why the fuck did you stop me!?" Grimmjow growled out, snarling as he tried to move his arm. To his pleasant surprise, he actually managed to push Ulquiorra's grasp a little, the pale skinned Arrancar noticeably blinking in surprise at this.

"Move out of the way emo bitch!" Nnoitra snarled, blood still dripping from his nose. "I'm gonna put down this fucker for goo-OONGH!"

Before Nnoitra could finish his words, Ulquiorra abruptly let go of his wrist, and slammed a fist right into his stomach. The taller Espada hunched over from the impact, a strangled gasp escaping his throat, before his mouth was abruptly slammed shut from Ulquiorra's palm flying up and slamming into the bottom of his jaw, lifting Nnoitra off the ground a little before he fell back, groaning and clutching his jaw.

"Grimmjow. Stand down." Ulquiorra stated bluntly, staring right at the Sexta Espada. "We do not have time for this."

Gritting his teeth, Grimmjow glared at Ulquiorra with nothing but loathing, before relaxing his grip on his sword. Nodding, the shorter of the two let go, taking a step back as Grimmjow sheathed Pantera.

"M-motherfucker… fuck, why the fuck isn't Hierro working!?" Nnoitra growled, sitting up as he rubbed his jaw and twisted his nose back into place with an audible snap.

"You haven't had time to adjust to your new body."

All eyes turned towards Harribel as she said that, the strongest of the four present currently looking up at the moon, her arms crossed under her bust.

"You have all probably noticed our lack of Hollow holes. Despite that, our Hollow mask fragments still remain. There is a chance that we are simply no longer typical Arrancar."

"That doesn't answer my fucking question bit-" Nnoitra started, before shutting his mouth. Grimmjow smirked a little at Nnoitra's instincts managing to save him from actually insulting the Tres Espada.

The last time Nnoitra called Harribel a bitch, he'd also challenged her to a fight. He then proceeded to get beaten within an inch of his life.

Nnoitra of course, despised mercy, which is why Harribel made sure to hammer home the fact that the only reason she didn't kill him was because Aizen had use for him.

"The only other answer I could come up with lies within our very souls. Do any you feel a difference, internally?" Harribel lowered her head to look at them.

Grimmjow and Nnoitra looked confused at this, before Ulquiorra cleared his throat a little.

"I do."

"Explain what you feel." Harribel tilted her head.

"It is…" The Quatro Espada looked conflicted, brow furrowing. "…incomprehensible. There is a sort of… emptiness that seems to have been filled up. It feels different from Spiritual Pressure. It feels… warmer."

"The fuck is that pansy shit supposed to mea-" Grimmjow started, before narrowing his eyes and focusing on himself.

He could feel something similar to what Ulquiorra described. A strange energy that he could feel running through his body. It flowed around him, through him, almost like the wind.

It felt warm.

Judging by the narrowing of Nnoitra's eyes, he managed to realize he could feel something similar too.

"Nnoitra. I want you to focus on that feeling, and bring it out." Harribel said, slowly uncrossing her arms as she walked closer. The lanky male raised a brow, clearly desiring to snap at her, before nodding as he focused on the warm sensation inside him.

The strange feeling of being… whole. Slowly, he tried to draw out that energy, eyes closing as he focused on it.

Right before the other three's eyes, Nnoitra's body started to shimmer a little, gaining a bit of a yellow glow, like some sort of barrier was shimmering on his skin. The instant that yellow glow manifested, Harribel nodded…

…and then proceeded to punch Nnoitra in the gut.

"GAH! What the fuck you-" Nnoitra started to yell, before stopping. "Huh. Didn't hurt. I could feel my Hierro stop that."

"As I thought. Our bodies have changed enough that the way we use our own powers seems to have been altered as well." Harribel narrowed her eyes, raising the hand she used to punch Nnoitra as her own body shimmered a little with a deep blue aura. "Nnoitra seems to require proper focus to use his Hierro, unlike how it just naturally protected him in the past."

"It feels fucking weird." Nnoitra hummed, flexing his fingers as the yellow glow held on him a little before dying down. Yet he could still feel the energy coating him. To his pleasant surprise, he could feel his nose healing a little. "Its like when I want to release my Resurreccion, but… weaker?"

"A separate power source? Or a different focus in our abilities?" Ulquiorra hummed, looking pensive before he looked towards Grimmjow. "Grimmjow. Punch me."

"Ha?" The Sexta Espada blinked, eyebrows raising up. "You're serious?"

"I must figure out if my own abilities have been altered in such a way."

"So I can just punch you… with no repercussions?"

"I will not hit you back."

"Oddly specific. Fuck it, I'm always up for smacking you in the face." Grimmjow shrugged, grinning widely as he walked right up to Ulquiorra, cracking his knuckles.

"Do not hold back." Ulquiorra stated, focusing on the strange energy inside him.

"Oh I won't!"

With a toothy smirk, Grimmjow threw his right fist towards Ulquiorra's face.

To both their shock, the Sexta's fist proceeded to _demolish_ Ulquiorra's nose, crunching it as blood sprayed out from his nostrils, staining the front of his white uniform, the Quatro Espada's head snapping back from the punch.

"Hah!" Nnoitra cackled, Harribel raising a brow beside him in surprise.

"Guess it doesn't work that way with you, huh!?" Grimmjow recovered from his shock, starting to smirk widely before he began to laugh, unable to contain the sheer satisfaction at managing to break Ulquiorra's nose into a messy pulp.

The shorter of the two just stood there, head tilted back and wide eyed as he tried to process the fact that _Grimmjow_ managed to break his nose entirely. What happened? He could feel the energy covering his body, yet the instant Grimmjow's fist made contact with his face, the aura seemed to give way, as if Grimmjow's own energies naturally repelled his own.

Yet, as he focused on the energy, he felt the flow of blood from his nose begin to stem, as his nose cracked back into place on its own, the damage quickly repairing itself.

Grimmjow's laughter cut off immediately when he saw Ulquiorra's nose heal almost instantly.

"I see. It seems that my own Hierro has been muted in strength… and instead using my Regeneration requires the same focus Nnoitra required for his own Hierro." Ulquiorra muttered, rubbing the blood off of his upper lip, before sighing at the sight of the red stains in his uniform. This was going to need a wash. "It is as if our abilities have been forced into specific specializations."

"I already know what Grimmjow's is." Harribel hummed. "When I first approached him, he charged a Cero in his palm."

"Huh, I did do that." Grimmjow blinked, before raising his hand and spreading out his fingers, focusing on the weird energy inside. He did it before through sheer instinct he supposed…

A bright red orb of energy formed in his palm, the sight bringing a smirk to his lips.

"Looks like I lucked out." Grimmjow boasted as he clenched his hand into a fist, the Cero vanishing. "So what's your specialization then, Harribel?"

"I am not sure. There will be time to figure it out later." She shook her head slowly. "With all that out of the way… what are the last things you all remember?"

Hearing this, Grimmjow's lips formed a flat line, throwing a glare at Nnoitra. "Being cut down by that bastard."

"Not my fault you couldn't fucking finish off the brat." Nnoitra sneered, before smirking. "I died in a fucking amazing battle with some Shinigami captain. Kenpachi Zaraki… now _that_ was a warrior!"

"Somehow I am not surprised." Ulquiorra murmured, before closing his eyes. "I turned to dust."

"….you what?" Grimmjow snapped his head towards Ulquiorra. "What, did you piss off Barragan while I wasn't looking?"

"No. I had expended all of my energy in my Resurreccion while fighting Kurosaki Ichigo. I became unable to regenerate as he had eradicated most of my internal organs."

"He what!?" Grimmjow and Nnoitra exclaimed, eyes bulging out. Even Harribel seemed surprised by this.

"How the fuck did he do that!?" Grimmjow snarled out, before something clicked. "Wait… that _damn mask!_ Did he get stronger with that mask on or something!?"

"…..in a sense." Ulquiorra stated, his expression oddly… wistful. "It matters not. Judging by our memories, we all died in a specific order. Grimmjow, Nnoitra, and then myself. Which means Harribel was possibly the last of us to perish."

With that said, the three males turned to look at the Tres Espada, whose expression turned… dark.

"….I was cut down by Aizen. He betrayed us."

Those two sentences sent ice down Grimmjow's spine.

"Impossible." Ulquiorra immediately said, his eyes widening the slightest bit.

"I am afraid it isn't. I was the last one of us alive at that point. Barragan had been defeated. Stark too." Harribel closed her eyes, fists clenching at her sides. "Aizen deemed me, and the rest of the Arrancar, irrelevant at that point. He cut me down and I bled out in the streets of the fake town the Shinigami constructed."

"….that motherfucker…" Grimmjow murmured under his breath, eyes wide.

"I'm not fucking surprised. The strong use the weaker, that's how it goes." Nnoitra scoffed, gritting his teeth. "Since we died though… I hope one of those fucking Shinigami offs him. Better if its the orange haired brat."

"I hate agreeing with you, but same." Grimmjow snarled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "…so what now? We all died… and now we're here. It's definitely not Hueco Mundo, and it's definitely not the Realm of the Living. Where the fuck are we? What do we do?"

"Who cares?" Nnoitra grinned, straightening up as he raised a hand. "We can do whatever the fuck we want now that we're free from that fucker."

"And what exactly _is_ whatever you want?" Harribel turned to look at Nnoitra. "In case you have not noticed… our powers seem to work differently now. We are still Arrancar, yet at the same time not. I would hazard to say we are more human now."

This didn't sit well with any of them, as all four Espada's faces gained varying degrees of irritation. Oddly, Ulquiorra's expression looked the least uncomfortable at the idea, his brow furrowed in thought.

"….this world will likely have inhabitants. We cannot act recklessly." Ulquiorra quietly said, gaining the others' attention. "In our current states, we should not draw too much attention. We must figure out a way to survive first. I believe we have a pressing issue on our hands."

"A pressing issue? The fuck are you talking abou-" Grimmjow started, before a loud growl echoed in the clearing.

The group, aside from Ulquiorra, looked around in confusion, hands reaching for their weapons, before the growl sounded out again… and it was coming from Ulquiorra.

More specifically… his stomach.

"…it appears that I require food." The pale Arrancar stated awkwardly, blinking as he put a hand on his stomach. "This is… an odd sensation. Different from the hunger I had before becoming an Arrancar. It is... uncomfortable."

"…you're fucking kidding. We actually _need_ food now!?" Nnoitra snarled, before he felt his own stomach gurgle a little as he grimaced. "Shit, I'm hungry too. Damn that feels weird."

Grimmjow could feel his own stomach grumble in need, his lips twisting into a frown. "Well… first step is getting food then. This place got any animals?"

"None that I can sense." Harribel shook her head, before turning to look at Nnoitra. "Out of all of us, your Pesquisa has the most range. Can you use it?"

"Don't fucking tell me what to do…" He grumbled, before kneeling down and jabbing his index finger into the ground, shutting his eyes as he focused. He kept that position for a few seconds before smirking widely. "Looks like I get to keep this too. Lots of different living beings all spread out, all animals..."

"Odd. What could be the reason behind these strange specializations...?" Harribel murmured.

"….what if we tried Resurreccion?"

Much to the group's surprise, the question was posed by Grimmjow of all people, who had a hand gripping Pantera's handle in thought.

"All our powers seem to be really limited right now… but I can still feel the well of energy sealed up in my Zanpakutou. What if we tried it?"

A look of understanding formed on Harribel's face, before she nodded. "That isn't a bad idea. Try it."

"Wait, why me?"

"Do you really want myself or Ulquiorra to test this?" Harribel raised a brow. "Our releases are rather destructive."

"Wait why the fuck aren't I in that equation?" Nnoitra blinked.

"Because if you went first, you would try to kill us immediately."

"…yeah, that's fair."

Rolling his eyes, Grimmjow slowly started to unsheathe Pantera, resting his left hand against the flat of the blade as he focused-

**Dread.**

The instant he focused on the power sealed in his Zanpakutou, he felt pure dread overwhelm his body, his eyes widening.

"….Grimmjow?" Harribel raised a brow, watching as the Sexta began to tremble. "What is going on?"

"…I-I can't…" Grimmjow muttered out, his teeth grit in a snarl as he tried to focus harder, only for the wave of pure dread to surge through him, focusing around where his Hollow hole used to be.

What would happen if he used it? He'd be a pure Arrancar again? He'd get a Hollow hole?

Somewhere inside him… he felt fundamentally _afraid_ of releasing his Zanpakutou.

As if he would lose something else in exchange for that power.

Growling loudly, he quickly jammed his blade back into its sheath. "FUCK!"

"What happened?" Ulquiorra stared at him with confusion, his question being met with a quick glare by Grimmjow.

"I can't fucking do it. The moment I focused on my Zanpakutou I just felt… fucking pressure. Like when Aizen flexes his Spiritual Pressure on us when he wants to make us kneel."

"Hah! Pussy!" Nnoitra smirked, before he held his own Zanpakutou. "Let me show you how it's fucking done!"

Raising his weapon up, Nnoitra grinned widely, focusing on his power.

And froze.

It was like ice had filled his stomach. A cold, unyielding pressure in his left eye socket, his body tensed up and faintly shivering.

"…Nnoitra too?" Harribel murmured, eyes narrowing.

"This… t-this is fucking nothing! I won't let some fucking bad vibes stop me!" Nnoitra snarled, gripping Santa Teresa' shaft harder. "P..p-p…"

He could get the word out, his tongue turning to lead in his mouth as he focused on the power sealed within the massive weapon.

"P-pray…." He managed to snarl out, his body shaking a little as he opened his mouth once more…

…and dropped his arm, tossing his weapon onto the ground behind him, his chest heaving as he panted, his single eye wide as he clutched at his chest. "F-fuck! What the fuck was that!?"

"It is as if there is some sort of mental blockade." Ulquiorra murmured, rubbing his chin. "Odd… and unsettling. It means if we wish to use our Resurreccions, it will require intense mental fortitude… which we are somehow lacking."

"You gonna try your hand at it?" Grimmjow raised a brow, scowling at the 4th Espada.

"No." Ulquiorra shook his head. "If the two of you cannot, it is unlikely I can. I would rather not risk damaging my soul in case this block isn't just mental. Harribel?"

"I will pass on that." She shook her head. "Clearly we have much to learn about our current states… but for now, we must find nourishment for our bodies. It is time to hunt."

* * *

The hunt for food became a job that Grimmjow and Nnoitra ended up being delegated to, due to their rather carnivorous pasts as Hollows. Even though all Hollows are of course, carnivores by nature, Grimmjow was a particularly talented hunter when he was still an Adjuchas. Nnoitra was as well, though his talents laid more within the realms of combat rather than hunting.

The two of them ended up splitting up of course, to hunt in separate locations in the strange forest. If they kept close to each other for two long, one of them would have been bound to snap within minutes, and attempt to murder the other. There was bad blood between the two Arrancar.

While those two hunted, Ulquiorra and Harribel moved towards a nearby stream, so that Ulquiorra could wash the blood out of his uniform. The Quatro Espada was currently shirtless, kneeling by the riverside as he wrung out his coat under the water, watching the blood slowly get washed out. The tattoo bearing his rank remained emblazoned on his chest.

"….it seems we kept our tattoos, despite technically no longer being Espada." Harribel hummed, having unzipped her jacket minutes ago, the bone armor covering everything from her nose to the upper parts of her breasts on full display. Her own tattoo remained on inner part of her right breast.

"So it seems." Ulquiorra hummed, focusing on washing out his jacket. "….the Espada are irrelevant… if Lord Aizen truly betrayed us… we are mere Arrancar now. These marks mean nothing now."

"I would not say that." The blonde Arrancar shook her head, crossing her arms as she leaned up against a nearby tree. "Regardless of his betrayal, these numbers serve as a reminder of our strength. Even if the Espada as a group is disbanded, these marks will remain to immortalize our strength."

"And what if our strengths change? What if, hypothetically, one of us were to grow stronger than a higher ranked member?" Ulquiorra posed the question as he lifted his soaked jacket out of the water, slowly wringing it out.

"Oh? Are you implying you've grown stronger than me, Quatro Espada?" Harribel raised a brow, her tone light. There was a faint flicker of Ulquiorra's own eyebrows raising in the faintest hints of mirth.

"I am implying nothing, Tres Espada. It was purely hypothetical." He calmly replied, squeezing the water out of his coat.

Out of all the Espada, there were really only two that Harribel got along with. The first being Stark, if only because despite his sloth, he was incredibly patient and friendly. It helped that his Fraccion was a delight to talk to.

The second was Ulquiorra. Despite his standoffish nature, he was easy for Harribel to figure out. Ulquiorra liked things to be in order. He liked things to be tidy, clinical, and logical. He liked things to go according to Lord Aizen's plans. He liked tea. He liked to read. He liked fruits.

There were a number of things Ulquiorra actually enjoyed, most of which nobody else knew, not even Ulquiorra himself. His view of the world and of 'enjoyment' in general was skewed. He viewed things he did as either _'necessary'_ or _'according to Lord Aizen's desires'_. He believed he had no desires of his own. Yet in reality, he simply did not realize that he _did_ have desires. They simply fell under _'necessary objectives and actions'_, or _'things Lord Aizen would do'._ His very own enjoyment of tea and reading were characteristics he developed from observing Aizen. Aizen enjoyed tea, and he enjoyed reading. Therefore it would only be logical if Ulquiorra were to enjoy the same things.

In truth, Ulquiorra was a bit of a study subject of Harribel's. All of her conclusions of his behavior were all discovered through observation, and occasional communication. Ulquiorra was not one for small-talk, and neither was she. He preferred not to communicate with others at all if he could help it. Which is why whenever she approached him for a conversation, she always made sure to have a purpose in mind for it. A series of questions that he would most likely answer, questions that were simple, to the point, yet not intrusive or suspicious.

_"What kind of tea were you drinking earlier?"_

_"That book seems curious. What is it about?"_

_"It seems Lord Aizen's plans are progressing. Do you think there will be any unforeseen factors?"_

Simple questions, all of which he would never fail to answer.

Truly, from Harribel's perspective, Ulquiorra was a curious oddity. A blank canvas with scant amounts of paint splattered onto it.

Lost in her thoughts, Harribel relaxed, allowing her eyes to close. The riverbank was filled with the sounds of running water, and water dripping from Ulquiorra's damp jacket as he cleaned it.

"…do you think Lord… do you think Aizen's plan succeeded in the end?"

The quiet question from Ulquiorra prompted Harribel to open her eyes once more as she turned her head to stare at him. His bare shoulders seemed tense, and there was… a frostiness in his expression that was rarely seen. Usually only shown when he was particularly upset.

"…I do not know. All of the Shinigami seemed rather ragged by the time he cut me down. Though, they had reinforcements in the form of odd people who could manifest Hollow masks of their own."

"….masks… they must be the ones who trained Kurosaki Ichigo…" Ulquiorra murmured, his expression conflicted. His brow furrowed as he gripped his bunched up jacket tightly. "…perplexing."

"…what happened when you fought him? You seem… disturbed. I would daresay you seem… unsettled." Harribel tilted her head, green eyes bearing down at Ulquiorra's face.

"…I killed him."

_That_ was not the answer she expected.

"Pardon?"

"I killed him. Even as I beat him down into the ground and unleashed my Resurreccion, he continued to stand up and manifest his mask, again and again. He refused to bow. I could not understand it. Why did he keep standing up? Why did he not give in to despair?" Ulquiorra muttered, his eyes widening just a little. There was a confused franticness in his teal eyes. "He refused to bow… so I blasted a hole in his chest, with Cero Oscuras. He died. The woma-… Inoue Orihime, watched him die. Her attempt to reverse the damage failed."

Harribel wasn't sure what to think at this point. She had never seen, nor expected, to see Ulquiorra so... unsettled. So confused.

"…and then… he stood back up."

"…elaborate." Harribel's eyes narrowed. "Did he heal himself somehow?"

"No." Ulquiorra wrung out his jacket again, before lifting his head. "The hole in his chest remained… but a mask formed on his face. A different one. A different pattern.. and it covered his entire head. He grew horns. Claws. His Spiritual Pressure skyrocketed… and he behaved differently. He didn't speak, he simply… growled. He became a beast… he became…"

Ulquiorra's eyes flicked towards Harribel's own. "…a Vasto Lorde."

"Impossible." She immediately rebutted. "He could not have become an actual Hollow. The mask is one thing, but to actually-"

"He fired a Cero with enough strength that it completely overwhelmed my Cero Oscuras." The pale Arrancar interrupted her, his tone almost haunted. "He utilized Sonido as well. His Hierro was strong enough that he completely crushed one of my attacks with his bare hand."

Hearing all this, Harribel's arms uncrossed as she stepped away from the tree, her eyes wide. "How? That.. should not be possible. How could a human have the ability to become such a thing?"

"I do not know. All I know is that in that moment… he had become a Vasto Lorde with enough strength that he completely dominated me. He fired a Cero at point blank range to my body, and obliterated the majority of my limbs, and organs. He was far gone enough that when his Quincy ally attempted to stop him from executing my remains, he impaled his own comrade with his Zanpakutou."

The Tres Espada raised a hand to her armored chin, rubbing the bone-like material a little. "It seems that his Hollowfication… costs him his sanity…"

"I was, ironically, able to snap him out of his maddened state. I attempted to behead him from behind, as he charged up another Cero to fire at his own comrade." Ulquiorra let out a mirthless scoff. "I only managed to cut off one of his horns… but those horns must have been the stabilizers for his Cero, because the moment I cut one off, it blew up in his face and obliterated his mask. After that… the hole in his chest healed completely.. and he was sane again…"

"…you were still alive at that point… you said you turned to dust. He did not finish you off?"

Ulquiorra let out a sound that Harribel raised an eyebrow at. It was a quiet, brief noise, but it almost sounded like a laugh.

"No… in fact, when he saw what he had done to me… he told me to cleave off one of his own arms and legs." Ulquiorra's lips were pulled up in a facsimile of a smile, a sight which Harribel had never seen before. "All because he didn't consider it fair."

"…what an odd human… this Kurosaki Ichigo." Harribel mused. The sentiments that Kurosaki showed… were very foreign to her. She knew of mercy of course. But the level he displayed… was unnatural. "Did you take him up on that offer?"

"I attempted to. But that was the moment my body began to crumble. And then… I perished." Ulquiorra's eyes closed slowly as he stood up, wringing out his jacket one more time before shaking it by the shoulders.

"…you do not seem… upset by your death. You seem almost... content." Harribel hummed, raising a brow.

"…Harribel… what is a heart?"

The sudden question surprised her, her head tilting as she watched Ulquiorra shake out his jacket more to get the water out. "An odd question. Do you ask of the organ, or the metaphor?"

"I am not sure. The human woman, she spoke of the heart. She said it was the source of her power. That because of her heart, she believed in her comrades." Ulquiorra shook his head, a wistful look on his face. "I did not understand. Such a thing sounded illogical. The heart is not something that really exists. And yet…"

He turned silent for a moment, before he looked up towards the shattered moon in the sky.

"In my final moments… she told me she did not fear me. And I saw compassion in her eyes. I saw pity in Kurosaki's. I… reached for her." Ulquiorra held his jacket in his left hand, raising his right up to his face, fingers splaying out a little. "I… do not know why. But she reached back to me. And… I felt, at that moment, that I had just begun to understand what a heart is. And how it was a pity that I had to perish right as I felt that understanding begin."

"Ulquiorra…" Harribel murmured, her eyebrows furrowed. She had never seen him so… off. He had changed so drastically as he began to talk about his final battle. Showing emotions he had never shown before.

"I suppose… I am relieved, that I am alive again. That we seem to have received a second chance of sorts." Ulquiorra hummed, clenching his right fist as he turned to look at Harribel. "Now… I have another chance. A chance to understand what a heart is."

"…I believe you may be closer to understanding a heart than you think." Harribel hummed, slowly walking closer to her fellow Espada as she reached up and rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it in a comforting manner. "This sudden change in you is.. startling for sure. Yet, not unwelcome. Perhaps, the holes in our bodies have vanished for a reason. Perhaps.. the holes in our souls have healed. And we have hearts of our own. Almost as if we are more human."

"Human…" Ulquiorra hummed, before shaking his head slowly, his lips faintly smiling. "That was what Kurosaki said, when he first managed to land a solid cut on my body. That I had become more human. Perhaps.. I owe him gratitude. For helping me understand."

"Ulquiorra Cifer, grateful towards a human?" Harribel chuckled, mirth in her seafoam colored eyes. "If I didn't hear your story, I would have called you an impostor."

"Hmh." The Quatro Espada scoffed a little, before holding out his jacket. "In any case, that is enough talk. I need to figure out how to dry this. I would prefer not to wear it damp, in case this body is capable of becoming ill, and I would rather not have to spend the rest of the night without wearing anything on my torso for the same reasons."

"….hold it there. Let me try something." Harribel ordered, her eyes narrowing as she had an epiphany. Raising a brow, Ulquiorra nodded and held his jacket out for her. The blonde Arrancar slowly raised a hand towards the jacket, focusing on the strange energy inside her.

Right before their eyes, the water from the jacket began to filter out of the fabric and into the air, slowly gathering towards Harribel's palm in thin tendrils. They joined together to form an orb of water in her hand, an orb which grew larger and larger as the moisture was sucked out of Ulquiorra's jacket.

The pale male blinked, before he shook out his jacket again and began to feel it up. "…completely dry. Convenient."

"It seems we've found my specialization. How comforting." Harribel hummed, holding up the sphere of water, before she narrowed her eyes as she tried to focus her spiritual energy into the water.

"Hirviendo."

At the uttering of her technique, the water in her hand simmered for a moment, before boiling in her palm as it turned into nothing more than steam within mere seconds.

"Hm. Slower than I would have liked." Harribel hummed, shaking out her hand a little. "But at the very least, it seems my control over water has become my specialization…"

"So it seems."

* * *

When the two higher ranked Espada returned to the clearing they had all originally gathered at, they found quite the curious sight.

"Fuck you Nnoitra! This is obviously going to be the better meal!"

"That pansy ass looking pile of scraps!? A real meal is lean and muscular, like this!"

"That thing's going to be too chewy and tough to enjoy, the best tasting meat comes from a softer, juicier animal like these!"

Grimmjow and Nnoitra appeared to be arguing, the both of them holding up the carcasses of two different animals. In Grimmjow's arms was a small pile of what seemed to be fish of a breed that they couldn't identify. In Nnoitra's grasp, was a deer carcass, something which made Harribel immediately think of Apacci.

"What are you two arguing about now?" Ulquiorra asked as he walked over, hands in his pockets, his tone even.

"This fucker thinks that stiff piece of dead meat is gonna taste better than this pile of fish." Grimmjow snarled as he turned to look at Ulquiorra. "And he's wrong!"

"Please, I've eaten way more flesh than you have! I know what tastes great, and it's this animal right here!"

"You're a fucking mantis, you eat all kinds of freaky shit, your taste in food can't be trusted!"

"Well you're a fucking pussy cat, you're biased to fish!"

"How do either of you even know what these would taste like?" Ulquiorra slowly blinked.

"I've eaten other Hollows similar enough. Can't be that much of a difference." The Sexta Espada scoffed, with Nnoitra nodding in agreement. "What about you, which of these do you think'll taste better?"

"I don't know, and I don't care." Ulquiorra replied, his voice deadpan as he turned and walked away. "I will get wood for the fire."

"Emo asshole…" Grimmjow huffed. Nnoitra snorted at hearing that, before he flashed a smirk towards a pensive Harribel.

"What about you Harribel? Which of these do you think will taste better?"

The Tres Espada simply stared at the two with an unreadable expression.

"Fish."

"In your face asshole." Grimmjow smirked up at the taller and lankier Arrancar, who snarled.

"Oh that's bullshit, she's biased too!"

"No shit, she's a shark and her Fraccion was a deer Arrancar you dumbass, of course she'd pick fish over deer!" Grimmjow cackled, his words drawing a raised eyebrow from Harribel.

"You actually paid attention to such a detail about a Fraccion? Let alone Apacci?"

The cyan haired male scoffed a little, turning his head away. "She's got more backbone than most Fraccion, what can I say? You got good Fraccion. Loyalty like that is tough to come by."

He knew that, more than anyone. The thought of his own Fraccion made his stomach twist a little for some reason.

"….I did." Harribel nodded, her tone soft. "Thank you."

"Don't fucking thank me, it's weird."

Nnoitra's eye darted between the two, his expression completely disgusted. "If you two are gonna fuck just do it somewhere else."

"Shut up Nnoitra." The other two immediately replied, with varying levels of irritation.

* * *

After Ulquiorra returned to find Harribel and Grimmjow in the middle of kicking Nnoitra's shins, and they got a fire going, the last dredges of the Espada actually managed to enjoy a proper meal. The deer was skinned, roasted, and promptly devoured by Nnoitra, while the fish were all de-scaled and cooked in batches over the flames, with sticks impaled through their bodies like kebabs.

"Fuck me, didn't think an actual animal from the world of the living would taste this good." Nnoitra hummed, looking remarkably relaxed as his long teeth tore out a chunk of venison from his meal, chewing noisily.

"Why the hell didn't Aizen stock up on actual food like this besides freaking tea and fruits?" Grimmjow huffed, having finished his third fish of the night, now in the middle of cooking a fourth one.

"He likely didn't see the point of wasting resources on catching live food from the world of the Living." Harribel hummed, her armored mask's jaws unhinged and opened up wide enough so that her actual mouth could feed on the roasted fish, biting through it and crunching her teeth through the bones as she swallowed her food whole without even chewing. Glancing towards Ulquiorra, she tilted her head. "Where did you find that fruit?"

"An apple tree." The pale Espada replied bluntly, currently in the middle of eating a plain apple.

"Are you gonna roast it at least? A plain apple seems boring for dinner." Grimmjow raised a brow as he lifted up his fourth fish from the fire and began to tear off the crunchy flesh.

"….you can… cook an apple?" Ulquiorra blinked, his expression seeming genuinely surprised. Staring at the fire, he paused for a moment before he stuck a stick through his half-eaten apple and held it over the fire.

"I mean, yeah? You can cook anything as far as human food goes." Grimmjow snorted, an action followed by Nnoitra scoffing as he finished off the entire roasted deer carcass.

"Fucking weak as they are, they're good at making food. That's the only thing I'll even consider remotely fucking positive about humans." Nnoitra grinned, picking at his teeth with a fingernail.

As the apple Ulquiorra held turned an interesting, darker shade, with the flesh of the apple turning a little golden in tone, the shortest of the four slowly lifted the fruit off the flame and took a bite out of it. His stoic façade cracked a little, eyebrows rising up as he took another bite from the roasted apple.

"Seems he likes it." Harribel chuckled, lips quirking into a soft smile as she finished off her meal.

"….Grimmjow." Ulquiorra slowly said.

"Yeah?"

"This is the one and only time I will ever thank you for anything. Enjoy it while it lasts."

"It's just fucking food, shut up and eat, you weirdo." Grimmjow rolled his eyes, smirking a little as he continued eating.

The four Arrancar enjoyed their meals, a brief moment of camaraderie blooming between them all as they ate.

* * *

Hours later, and the group decided to retire for the night. Sleeping under the stars wasn't anything new to any of them. It was no different from sleeping in Hueco Mundo.

Which is why the four of them were all laying down the grass, leaning up against different trees, completely relaxed. With full stomachs, half of them drifted off to sleep quite easily. Nnoitra was slouched against his tree, one of his legs raised up and resting on a log, snoring audibly. Harribel had her arms crossed as she sat against a tree, eyes shut, legs crossed.

Grimmjow couldn't sleep. Now that he had a moment to properly relax, his mind was full of conflicting thoughts.

It would be so easy to just sneak over to Nnoitra and drive a blade through his throat. So damn easy.

But for some reason, something stopped him, and it pissed him off that he couldn't figure out _what_.

This entire situation was fucked, he knew that. Out of all the Espada to gain second lives… why them?

He was experiencing new and foreign emotions he'd never felt before. Was this what it meant to regain a soul? To have that hole in your body be filled?

"Souls are stupid…" Grimmjow huffed, laying on his back on the grass, arms crossed under the back of his head. His eyes flicked over towards Ulquiorra's form, currently sitting further out in the clearing, staring up at the moon. "….freaking bat."

* * *

The Quatro Espada was staring blankly at the shattered moon in the sky. It was.. very different from the crescent moon of Hueco Mundo. It actually moved. The stars were brighter.

This place was odd. And his situation was even stranger. He could… feel odd things, in his soul. Strange sensations.

Was this what a heart was? To feel gratitude? To feel serenity? To feel satisfaction?

He didn't even see Grimmjow as trash. The man was still an irritating nuisance, but he didn't seem to find himself able to label Grimmjow as a piece of trash anymore.

A bother was a better term.

Ulquiorra's cat-like eyes stared at the bright moon above, uncertain of the future. Of what it meant for them. Would they go as a group once more? Or would they part ways and strike out on their own? Would Ulquiorra be able to even pave a path forward on his own to understand the Heart?

_"Woman… do you fear me?"_

_"I'm not afraid."_

Slowly, his eyes shut.

Whatever the future held… he would greet it with a steady mind.

And perhaps… with steady companions.

* * *

_So playing Bleach Brave Souls is the reason I've had this idea. No, that doesn't mean I'll implement the Beyond Resurreccion forms._

_This is gonna be a bit of a writing exercise, to see if I can properly write, and possibly evolve, these four characters. Of course, its also a RWBY crossover, so they are in Remnant. Hopefully what I have planned will start this story off in a bit of a different way than my others did._

_I hope you all enjoyed how I wrote their characters so far. Its been a fucking long time since I read and watched Bleach, so I dunno if I'm the most accurate, but I'm gonna do my best. And no, I'm not shipping any of the Espada here with each other. I dunno why I have to say that, but I feel like I should just put that out there._

_If their skillsets seem a little weird right now, don't worry, its on purpose, I'll elaborate on them eventually. Just know that they are **not **as powerful as they were as fully fledged Arrancars. _

_Anyway, see you all next time. And if anyone's curious to my favorite of the Beyond Resurreccion forms... its actually Ulquiorra's. He looks so damn cool with white hair and a flaming tail._


End file.
